The Quebec Network for Personalized Health Care Welcomes New $125 Million Partnership Fund for an Innovative, Healthy Quebec

CHICAGO, Illinois and Montreal, Quebec, April 23, 2013 – The Quebec Network for Personalized Health Care welcomes the creation by the Quebec government of the $125 million Partnership Fund for an Innovative, Healthy Quebec (Fonds de partenariat pour un Québec innovant et en santé). This investment, announced as part of the 2013-2014 budget speech, will support the development of Quebec key assets in applied biopharmaceutical research, with a special focus on personalized health care. The details of the fund were presented yesterday by Minister Nicolas Marceau at the 2013 BIO International Convention in Chicago, in which the QNPHC is participating to promote Quebec’s strengths in personalized health care.

“We are delighted that the government chose to focus on personalized health care projects, with the objective of seeking patients and population health outcome. Quebec is already recognized as a worldwide leader in human health research. The goal now is to ensure the Quebec population and its healthcare system benefit from the discoveries and innovations made by our public and private researchers,” said David Levine, Chairman of the QNPHC Board.

“To reap the benefits of these new investments, in addition to effective partnerships between public research and the private sector, we need to introduce sound mechanisms for the assessment and implementation into the healthcare system. Bridging science and citizens’ health will be key for Quebec to emerge as a global leader in personalized health care,” explained QNPHC Executive Director Paule De Blois.

Discoveries and innovations in molecular biology coupled with the huge potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) will give rise to personalized health care (PHC). This new approach will lead the way to a personalized, preventive form of medicine based on the knowledge of individual risk factors for certain diseases. It will also help determine a patient’s likelihood of responding to a given treatment using genetic data and new genomic tests, among others. Today’s therapies have an average efficiency rate of 40 percent, but with PHC, this rate could increase considerably, as we ensure patients receive the treatments that they are more likely to respond to with the fewest side effects. With new technologies, information on a person’s medical history, lifestyle and environment will be easier to access and use, which will improve medical follow-up and foster the active implication of citizens in the management of their personal health. In other words, PHC has the potential to radically change medical and health management practices.

About the Quebec Network for Personalized Health Care

The Quebec Network for Personalized Health Care (QNPHC) is a not-for-profit organization created in 2011 to promote the development and implementation of personalized health care in Quebec. It provides a focal point and a platform for concerted action and promotion for all stakeholders working in research, development, deployment and management of personalized health care in Quebec with significant benefits for the health of Quebecers, the efficiency of the healthcare system, the sector’s economic growth and research excellence. The QNPHC currently brings together some 40 Quebec organizations, both public and private, as well researchers and opinion leaders.